Manufacturing News
July 9, 2026
July 9, 2026 · Statewide · Story 3 of 3
Indiana's May Jobs Report: Manufacturing Added Just 200 Jobs
Indiana's May unemployment rate came in at 3.3 percent, but manufacturing added only 200 jobs, fifth among all sectors, while construction absorbed 1,800 and leisure and hospitality added 1,700. Factory floors are losing the worker-absorption competition to construction and services at the exact moment reshoring demand should be filling shop floors.
The structural driver: Hoosier manufacturing wages ran roughly $30 an hour versus about $35 nationally as of mid-2025, around 85 percent of the national rate. That's the same skilled-trades pool, millwrights, electricians, welders, Evonik's modernization will draw on for the next 18 to 36 months. If your wages sit 15 percent below the national rate, close that gap before your open reqs sit unfilled another quarter.
- For the huddle
What should I be watching on the AES Indiana rehearing?
The OUCC and Citizens Action Coalition filed rehearing petitions on July 7 challenging vacant payroll positions and rate-case legal expenses, and IURC Chair Anthony Swinger has signaled likely recusal. Watch the July 16 replacement commissioner appointment, since it directly affects central Indiana industrial rate exposure through 2030.
From the brief, July 9, 2026
- Evonik's Tippecanoe Investment and the Section 232 Pharmaceutical Tariffs Deadline
- Janus International Cuts 75 Jobs in Butler, And an EDGE Credit Question No One Is Asking
- Indiana's May Jobs Report: Manufacturing Added Just 200 Jobs
Related
- Rolls-Royce's $1B Indianapolis Campus, Indiana's Nuclear MOU for CANDU Reactors, and Cleveland-Cliffs' Burns Harbor Delay: What Indiana Manufacturers Need to Watch
- Nucor's $105 Million Crawfordsville Expansion, SEL's $25 Million West Lafayette Bet, and Indiana's Industrial Property Tax Increase for 2027
- Nucor, Amazon, and Doral Solar Compete for the Indiana Welding Workforce Shortage
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